A-Musing: The Worst of My Collection

As you might imagine, I have quite a lot of comic book trades. And, as with any large collection, some of it is crap.

We all experience buyer's remorse from time to time, and we are all lured in by shiny beads or what-have-you. There are comics I wish I could retcon from my shelves as easily as they do with Superman's origins.

Do not misunderstand me: I gotta lotta good stuff too. And a lot of it is not awful, but poor, and that's a different story. Nor am I trying to say that these trades are quantifiably terrible. There's no such thing. It's just that, in my humble opinion, I feel that the quality of the work does not justify my purchase.

Here are a few examples:

A-Musing: Mad Science

If you read a lot of superhero comics, then you may have noticed that science rarely goes right. There's radioactive spiders running amok, hazardous chemicals placed dangerously near non-lightning-proof windows, and extremely flimsy security around gamma bomb test sites -- and that's just on the hero side of things.

Whenever some ahead-of-his-time genius invents a freeze-ray or weather-control machine, he never seems to use it to benefit mankind, or even just get filthy rich from the profits. No, he tries and takes over the world, kill a superhero, or even just rob banks for much, much less money than his discovery is worth.

So why is it that superheroes are so closely tied to the "science gone wrong" sub-genre? What is it that makes characters like Spider-Man and The Hulk more popular than mystical heroes like Captain Marvel or Dr. Strange? Why do we like to see science fail and everything go wrong? Hopefully, before I get bored and just click "Publish", I will answer this conundrum.

A-Musing: My First Week as a Superhero

I can still remember first hearing the words, "DC Universe Online".

It seems like so long ago, and fresh on the heels of announcements such as Star Trek Online, Lord of the Rings Online and even Pirates of the Caribbean Online, so at first it seemed like just another jump onto an already over-capacity bandwagon.

And initially I was indifferent. No, scratch that. I was actually completely disinterested now that I recall. I was not one for MMORPGs, having briefly flirted with City of Heroes, another superhero game, and found it lacking.

In my (albeit limited) experience, online games are simply addictive, and possess no engaging qualities beyond the joy of character creation. It seemed like all the endless missions I send my character on were mind-numbingly repetitive, and even though his skills were improving, I was just pressing the same sequence of keys over and over again.

A-Musing: Parallel Universes, Grant Morrison, and Why Superman is Real

Stay with me here. This one is gonna get weird.

In these days of comic book multiverses, where Heaven forbid we should just read a story without worrying about where it "fits", things can get a little complicated. But I'm not going to debate the minutiae of Earths 0 through 616, at least not here anyway. I'm going to examine something a lot more boring: Terminology.

Again, stay with me. You have no idea where this is going, trust me.

In a lot of crazy sci-fi stories, the terms "parallel universe" and "alternate reality" are thrown around quite a lot and used interchangeably to describe these concepts. Being the obsessive nerd that I am, I stubbornly preferred the latter term, believing that "parallel universe" was an incorrect label; that it was somehow inaccurate.

Then I had a life-changing epiphany...

A-Musing: Things to Look Forward to in 2011

Since I've done one of those nostalgic looks back at the trades of 2010, I thought I might as well do a hopeful look at what's to come in 2011, comics-wise.

This list doesn't just apply to comic books though. Just this once, I'm breaking my usual format to let you know what I'm most excited about in all fields; comics, TV, film, etc. Because this is the Internet, where everyone is equally important. I think that's how it works anyway...

I take absolutely no blame if any of these things turn out to be terrible, by the way. Let none of us forget the disproportionate amount of expectation vs. actual quality regarding the Jonah Hex movie. Also, all of these dates are subject to change. That's not my fault either.

So, what am I looking forward to in 2011?

A-Musing: Covers

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but with comic books -- where the art is half of the experience -- one cannot help it.

Usually, comic book covers will be done by the same artist covering the interiors, but occasionally there will be a special guest artist, or even various variants to choose from. The cover is the comic's handshake in a way; its first impression which can often sway the indecisive reader.

But when it comes to trade collections, how do they choose what goes on the front? There's many covers, from each issue collected inside, to choose from; do they use the first issue's cover? Do they choose the nicest looking, and if so, who decides that? And what about those variants and guest artists? Do they even get a look-in?

A-Musing: Does Captain America Vote?

Disclaimer: This post is in no way about anything to do with real world politics, so I don't want to hear it.

A great many people often misunderstand Steve Rogers, better known to you and me as Captain America. Those who do not read his series think of him as a mindless tool of the U.S. government, spewing propaganda and slogans, and punching anything "un-American" in the face. I too was guilty of this gross misconception at one point.

But now I, and anyone who reads Captain America, know this to be untrue. Cap is first and foremost an agent of the people, not the state. He embodies American values such as freedom, justice and equality, independent of whoever happens to be in power. If the government starts singing a tune he's uncomfortable with, he's not afraid to stand apart. Or against.

Captain America represents all that's good about America, which is actually quite a lot, despite what we have allowed ourselves to believe for the sake of comedy or smugness. He is what America should be -- what America could very easily be, if everyone just gave a damn.

A-Musing: The Next Batman Movie Villain

With Christopher Nolan's next instalment in the Batman film series, The Dark Knight Rises (if that is its real name), set for a July 2012 release, speculation has been rampant online as to the identity of the villain(s).

Nolan is spoiled for choice, with over 70 years worth of material to dig through. Will he pick another big name character, or go for someone more C-list? This is the guy who made Inception, so who knows how his mind works.

But I can offer you my guesswork, based upon hours of speculation and logical reasoning that I just made up on the spot. Knowing the world as I do, there will very probably be an official announcement immediately upon my posting this list, so enjoy it while you can.

(This list only includes villains I consider to be high-level. No Penny Plunderer or Calendar Man. It also discounts villains that Nolan has explicitly denied, such as the Penguin, Mr. Freeze and the Riddler.)

A-Musing: Comics Writers as Film Directors

This was something I put together a while back after watching Jurassic Park and realising how similar it is to a Geoff Johns story (I refuse to explain further). I posted it on a few message boards and figured I might as well stick it up here too.

Geoff Johns/Steven Spielberg – Both recognised as maestros of their separate crafts, and in both cases it is well deserved. They know how to create memorable moments that stay with you forever, whether complex or simplistic, and they can tell the shiz out of a good story. Not to mention the fact that they have both been responsible for some of fiction's most iconic heroes.

James Robinson/Quentin Tarantino – One word comes to mind when thinking of these creators: Effortless. And that is by no means an insult. They both handle multiple-character stories brilliantly, getting across who each of these people are without beating you over the head about it. They can also put together a story perfectly, like a brick wall, but aren't afraid to throw in a few tricks too, all without breaking a sweat.